BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mockingly branded Zohran Mamdani one of his “realtors of the year” – predicting that New York City’s socialist mayor will continue to drive taxpayers out of New York City and down to the Sunshine State.

DeSantis unleashed the scathing quips in a fireside chat on Monday at the 2026 Milken Institute Global Conference here. In a wide-ranging interview, the former 2024 GOP presidential candidate blasted soaring taxes and runaway spending in big cities like New York, Chicago and California.

“I don’t think it’s good that, like, one guy gets elected mayor and then people feel like they have to flee the city,” DeSantis told me, referring to Mamdani. “We’d have people come down to Florida all the time, and they responded to all those problems, not by correcting the problems, but electing somebody who was exacerbating the problems.”

DeSantis took aim at Mamdani over his now-infamous social media post last month in which he stood outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s penthouse on 220 Central Park South to promote Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial pied-a-terre tax on houses owned by non-residents worth more than $5 million.

“We know the policies that that mayor ran on are not going to be successful,” DeSantis told me, citing the fact that Griffin’s giant hedge fund Citadel relocated to Miami from Chicago in 2022 – and has significantly boosted the local economy since.

“(Griffin) has brought jobs, business, all that tax base” to Florida, DeSantis said. “He has given probably hundreds of millions of dollars philanthropically to organizations in Florida, which, if he wasn’t a Florida resident, would probably give them somewhere else.”

DeSantis added Mamdani’s anti-Griffin video “takes it to another level – when you show up in front of somebody’s house and target them personally, that’s taking it to a point where, you know, is it reasonable to then think maybe they don’t want me around here?”

With the rising tide of progressivism in the Democratic Party, wealth creators increasingly have become targets of taxes and in toxic rhetoric. DeSantis made that point several times during our chat, and had harsh words for Mamdani, who has been at the tip of the spear. 

“If you wanted to give realtor the year, I wouldn’t pick anybody in Florida,” DeSantis said. “I would pick mayors in New York, in Chicago and some of these governors, they’re basically the best ambassadors for Florida that we could ever ask for. And we’ve seen it, and people have voted with their feet.”

Asked whether he’s considering running for president again in 2028, DeSantis said he was open to it.

“Who knows? Like, you never know,” DeSantis said. “I’m in my mid-forties You know, maybe beyond that, I think that there’s a lot of runway.”

The Florida governor boasted that when he got elected, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 300,000. Now, he said, Republicans hold the edge to the tune of 1.5 million voters.

DeSantis likewise bragged that Florida’s economy has grown to $1.8 trillion from $1 trillion on his watch. School choice has become universal and crime has tumbled to a 50-year low, he added. 

“So we’ve got a good story to tell,” DeSantis said. “And we’re proud of the leadership.”